1. Field
The present invention relates generally to charge pumps. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, devices, methods, and computer-readable media for reducing dynamic and static power consumption of a charge pump.
2. Background
Charge pumps are commonly utilized in electronic circuitry to step a given supply voltage level up or down, and/or to invert the supply voltage to an inverse voltage level to power a load. A charge pump may find application in, for example, an amplifier architecture, wherein one or more supply voltages provided to an amplifier may be varied depending on the level of an input signal to be amplified. Charge pumps may also be employed to power other types of loads besides amplifiers.
In conventional charge pumps (e.g., a negative charge pump), a turn-on voltage of each switch of a charge pump needs to be sufficiently large to achieve better efficiency. Therefore, voltage buffers may be used to increase switch gate-to-source voltages (Vgs) above a supply voltage (VDD). However, increasing gate-to-source voltages consumes static power. For high-frequency clock input, this may be acceptable since the switching power is dominant. For lower-frequency clock input, quiescent current dissipation is not desirable for extending the battery life.
A need exists for reducing charge pump power consumption. More specifically, a need exists for systems, devices, methods, and computer-readable media for reducing dynamic and static power consumption of a charge pump.